Earth Atlantis (Review)

After our interview about Earth Atlantis, Pixel Perfex sent us a review code of the game so we could dive into its post-apocalyptic underwater world and see what it’s all about. The game begins with a quick explanation about how the world is underwater and you must hunt down dangerous monsters, and then it sets you loose.

With this premise, you might expect an open world filled with monsters for you to discover and pursue. However, Earth Atlantis is structured more like a Metroidvania, with maze-like passages, upgrades to find, and new sections that open up as you defeat monsters. Only a handful of these bosses are available at a time, so you’ll spend much of your time fighting through minor enemies as you make your way across the map.

The controls are very simple. You use the left stick to move, use one button to turn, and use another button to shoot. Your ship starts out weak, but as you defeat enemies, you’ll collect power-ups. Upgrades around the map also contain special weapons like missiles or an electricity attack, although you can only have one type of special weapon at a time. (It is also possible to unlock more powerful ships, but you need to encounter and fight them in the game first.) Getting these upgrades is vital, because Earth Atlantis’s bosses, while awesome, can be brutally difficult.

If you’re defeated (or quit the game), you respawn without any of your upgrades, which means you’ll need to start over gathering them again. A patch shortly after launch increased drop rates and changed it so that one weapon will respawn alongside you, which makes it less tedious, but it still can be disappointing when you have to start all over. There are a few checkpoints, but these only determine where you’ll respawn. Fortunately, any bosses you’ve defeated remain defeated even if you die.

Finally, the art style deserves a mention. Earth Atlantis is a beautiful game with a hand-drawn art style that really gives it a unique appearance. The entire world looks like an illustration, and seeing glimpses of our world underwater is perfect for the atmosphere. It can sometimes be difficult to see certain white projectiles due to the light background, but overall it’s a wonderful aesthetic.

Earth Atlantis isn’t an easy game by any means, and it can be repetitive at times. However, if you like slowly building your power to face deadly foes and don’t mind backtracking, it’s worth looking into.

Samantha is a published horror and fantasy writer, a professional freelance writer, and a longtime gamer. As a result, writing about games is one of her favorite activities. She likes a wide range of genres, especially RPGs, survival horror, and visual novels. More information can be found at her website: http://www.samanthalienhard.com/